Following Eurovision in Concert this weekend, the it was time for a Dutch edition of Juke Box Jury… so we drafted an Irishman for first time jury duty in the shape of Garrett Mulhall of Eurovision Ireland to join long-serving judge Elaine Dove for this week’s feisty foursome of Eurovision music.

Will they be a hit, a miss, or a maybe? Will they be able to win the Contest? And will we need Paul ‘Dr Eurovision’ Jordan to make a guest appearance?

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times.
You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

georgia getting a hit and a maybe? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, Good joke
NEVER!
thanks for reminding me not take these podcasts seriously.

Belgium: Lose the dancer. I can’t think of a better alternative staging than solo — well dressed, composed, simple and graceful gestures — he looks fine. Don’t make visuals a conscious issue for the viewer. I just wonder how many people (besides Brits) will be a bit squeamish about this.

Georgia:
And here’s where completely flat consensus voting lets us down; even the most enthusiastic juries can’t overcome a weak televote. There’s just the faintest glimmer of hope that semi 2 is so varied that other songs get jumbled by comparison and this sneaks in on weirdness.
And oh goodie, another old band to explore. A pretty decent stash of Pentangle on YT as well … mmm, nice.

Latvia:
This style of jangly, relentlessly chirpy campfire music just doesn’t win me over, although it seems enormously popular. I look for some other detail to pique my interest to no avail. So I wonder if this will be the opposite case where it’s the juries who don’t come to the party.

Kind of painful to listen to in the beginning due to some sound issues, but either you got those fixed or my ears blocked them out in self-defence after a while. 😉

Montenegro – personal miss, I doze off halfway every time I listen to it. But I’m sure it will qualify, so in that way it’s a hit. A bit of a pity though that Montenegro will probably qualify with this consensual drivel while they never managed it with their interesting, quirky numbers. Does not bode well for the future.

Georgia – love it! But it took me more than one listen to understand what this song is, and the people watching the semi will only get to hear it once. Plus I can’t imagine a way to stage this so that it will enhance its appeal. Even if the juries are giving the song what it deserves (and I doubt they will – even the Russian grannies scored high with the juries …), it won’t be on stage on the Saturday. So in that way it’s a clear miss.

Latvia – love it too! I had that song stuck in my ear for days after I began listening to this year’s songs, and that’s a big plus. It gets a bit tiring after the nth listen, but again, the voters only hear it once. I’ll cry if Latvia doesn’t qualify, and I can’t vote for it myself. Meh!

Belgium – miss on about every level I can image. Yes he can sing, but this is not a singing contest. The song is creepy, a grown man idolizing his mother that way … yuck! Move out and get a life, Axel, please. I’m afraid I might have to hear it again in the final … *shudder*

stephan colville, its also weird how when in irelands JBJ i had never heard anyone say that irelands song sound like only love survives from last year and then all of a sudden all three panel members seemed to think it did (and to date the only people to think that.)

@ Harriet And how many hate it? The vast, vast majority. I just find it weird that all 3 jbj members liked the Georgian song, whereas if you picked 3 ESC fans at random, the chances of them all liking that song are pretty much zero.

i just can’t hide how much i hate the georgia entry, i think its the worst entry ever in the history of eurovision, i know its georgia so it will have diaspra but tbh i would not be surprised if they get nul points, with lithuania in the semi i don’t think it will, but if they do i would not be one bit surprised either.

Stephen said it was an odd coincidence that the jury contained three people like the song — and it is an odd coincidence.

Harriet said there are many others who like the song — also true.

Stephen didn’t disagree; he merely tried to clarify that it’s an odd coincidence because the probability of finding three by chance is small.

No-one said the song doesn’t have some fans.

I’ll also add that the ESCInsight collective is anything but a random sample — which is why they have something different to offer. It’s not all that surprising that they’ll occasionally have atypical tendencies.

Montenegro – HIT, it WILL make the final, someone in that country has finally decided to pick a song and singer that WILL GET OUT OF THE SF! It will probably finish top half in the Final too.

Georgia – MISS, it has absolutely no chance in Eurovision, sounds too much like a disjointed folk session. First time listeners will sit there stunned, thinking ‘what was that’? – and not in a good way.

Latvia – MAYBE. It is very child-like but I have a feeling that it WILL make the Final, a la “Tomorrow” last year (which it really, really reminds me of). It is a bit of an earworm – once at the Final it will not do much though.

Belgium – HIT. He sings excellently and I don’t think the subject matter will matter although SF1 is the tougher one. He needs to make a BIG play about it being about Mothers as what is Sunday 11th May in most of Europe?